All Ears
by aislingforstars
Summary: [oneshot] [complete] Rory's upset because she thinks he forgot about the party... but when he shows up, she gets one of the best surprise of her life. [Not a good summary] [Trory]


**Disclaimer:** The only thing I currently own is all my wonderful books, not Gilmore Girls. 

**My Ramblings:** SO, this _was _what I wrote for the current BAF Challenge but, due to a few... difficulties, it didn't make the cut. But they did say I could post it for all you lovely readers out there, so here it is!

**Reviews: **Please, it's like a drug addiction. Reviews to me is like cookies to cookie monster!

**Thanks: **I would like to thank all the girls that worked on this for me. It means a lot to me and I'm so thankful y'all (hey, I'm a Texan, give me a break) did all your wonderful job on it! And I would like to give a BIG thanks for the girl that explained to me a way I could post this since FF is not working right. Thank you!

Before I get to the story, FT will be out when it's out, my beta is going through a rough time, her aunt isn't doing so well so she needs all the prays she can get.

Enough of my babbling - Enjoy the story!

**- - -  
All Ears  
- - -**

Rory rested her elbows on the railing of the porch, a sigh passing through her lips. Lorelai's party had been in full swing for an hour, but it was still one person short. Well, technically, it was short any amount of people, as it was just a 'come if you want' party, like any other Lorelai Gilmore-Danes party.

Rory smiled to herself as she thought of her mother as a Danes. After breaking off the engagement and sleeping with Christopher, Luke and Lorelai had both decided to push the date back, working through their issues before saying 'I do'.

Lorelai had been practically glowing ever since then. Rory thanked whatever higher power had finally given her mother the happiness she deserved.

"Rory! You missed it!" Lorelai yelled, bursting through the back door. "Kirk just..." She stopped abruptly, catching the glum expression on her daughter's face. "What's wrong?"

Rory gave her a tight smile, not wanting to bring down her mother's cheery mood. "It's nothing, it's just a headache." she said, touching her forehead for effect.

"Uh huh." Lorelai remarked dryly, She was unconvinced as she moved to stand next to her. "You always were a horrible liar. Where's…" She stopped abruptly, realizing why Rory was hiding out in the chilly air. "He's not here, is he?" she asked softly, knowing Rory knew exactly who she was talking about.

Rory looked down, hiding her face from view. "No."

"Aw, honey. Maybe he was caught up at work." Lorelai suggested sympathetically.

Rory snorted in contempt. "Or maybe he just forgot," she snapped, her voice betraying her.

Lorelai winced. "You don't know that," she said soothingly, trying to placate her daughter. "Have you tried his cell?"

"His cell, his work, the house phone. All of the above. His cell phone keeps going straight to his voice mail. His work said he left at five-thirty. And there's no answer on the house phone," Rory said as she felt the anger and hurt flowing through her veins.

"Maybe there was a wreck on the highway. You know, all those crazy Irish people getting drunk!" Lorelai joked, trying to lighten her daughter's foul mood. "Sorry, bad joke."

"No mom." Rory shook her head, her hurt finally winning out, knowing the anger would come just as soon as she saw him. "He. Forgot." It wasn't the first time either, she mused sadly to herself.

Lorelai wrapped an arm across Rory's shoulders, knowing there was nothing she could do.

- - -

"Shit, shit, shit." The person swore as he maneuvered through the throng of people. He was late. Fuck, he was beyond late. He was supposed to be here two and half hours ago. He had been here for fifteen minutes and had yet to spy a Gilmore. He ignored the looks people gave him as he swore; trying to find one of the two people he was looking for.

As he eased himself past Miss Patty and into the kitchen, Lorelai walked through the back door.

"How mad is she?" He gasped breathlessly, watching as Lorelai pulled the door shut behind her.

Surprise etched across Lorelai's features as she looked up at the boy who had managed to thrust his way back into her daughter's life. "Well, at the moment she's trying her damnedest not to cry, because she thinks you forgot about the St. Patrick's Day party."

Tristan closed his eyes. This wasn't how this night was supposed to go. "Lorelai, I swear to you I didn't forget. My company called a last minute board meeting. I was literally almost out of the building. Fuck!" he swore to himself again as he kicked out his leg. It connected with the metal edge of a table and he winced in pain.

Lorelai smiled, knowing Tristan would never do anything to intentionally hurt the fruit of her loins. If the suit he wore wasn't enough proof that he was telling the truth, the distressed look on his face certainly was. Yet, although she sympathized with him, she couldn't help but find amusement in the green tie he wore.

Shaking off her thoughts, Lorelai focused on the young man in front of her. "Why don't you tell her this?" she suggested. She was getting tired of watching him continually run his hands through his locks of hair.

Tristan paused, gathering his scattered thoughts. "I- thank you Mom," he said. He paused to kiss Lorelai's cheek before walking past her, cautiously opening the back door and slowly stepping out into the night.

Lorelai smiled as the door shut behind him. There was no doubt in her mind that they would make it.

- - -

"Rory?" Tristan asked tentatively as he stood beside her. God he hoped she wasn't too upset to listen to him.

"Just leave me alone Tristan," Rory sniffled, turning away from him.

Tristan shoved his hands in his slacks, knowing not to touch her. "Baby, please..."

"Don't 'baby please' me!" Rory bit out, turning angrily to face him. "You show up, over two hours late, knowing I was looking forward to this party! Did you forget or just not care?" she accused, letting out her bottled anger and refusing to wait for a response before she continued.

"You promised me you would be here! Do you know how it feels to see person after person walk through that door, and not see the person you were looking forward to seeing the most?" she asked, her voice rising as she wiped angrily at the unwelcome tears falling from her eyes.

Tristan watched patiently as his girlfriend of two years continued to rant. He knew that her outburst didn't really mean anything. Thus, he just waited before saying anything.

They had been in enough fights for him to know that it was best not to interrupt and just let her say everything that had been building up. Knowing this could take awhile, he sighed and turned, resting his lower back against the rickety wood of the porch railing, and folding his arms across his broad chest.

"You know what? I just think you forgot and showed up thinking you could save your ass." Rory accused as she continued her rant.

Tristan rolled his eyes, a light smirk on his lips.

"I mean you've forgotten Valentine's Day for the past two years, what made me think you would remember this date?" Rory mumbled to herself.

Tristan gave her a pointed look. "First off, I haven't forgotten about Valentine's Day the past two years. Secondly, I didn't forget about this shindig either! Some dickhead decided to hold an emergency meeting over something pitiful that could've easily waited until tomorrow. Thirdly, I'm late tonight because of said emergency meeting - I have a speeding ticket in the car that proves it because I was in a hurry to get here. And if none of that convinces you, look at my attire." he pleaded, gesturing down to the suit he still wore.

Rory glanced over at him, noticing for the first time that he was still in the clothes he'd worn to work. "Oh," she said softly, feeling a tug of guilt wash over her for subjecting him to all her accusations and outbursts. She should have known better. For the two years that they had been dating, he never forgot anything and he never ceased to surprise her. While she was ranting and bitching at him, he just stood there, taking her underserved verbal lashing.

She smiled as flashes of the past two years ran through her head. He had changed since Chilton. He was still an ass, but that was just Tristan. He kept his hair shorter, and his locks were more of a dirty blond nowadays. His broad shoulders moved with ease, demanding power. He'd learned to keep his naughty tongue in check unless they were in bed.

She blushed as the latter thought ran through her mind, looking everywhere except directly at him so he wouldn't see the blush tinting her cheeks.

"You didn't forget Valentine's day?" she asked, remembering his comment from his outburst earlier.

"Are you kidding?" Tristan scoffed. "How could I possibly forget? Wherever I go, the stores have huge signs and billboards. Everywhere, there's all this lovey-dovey mushy crap." He ranted, waving hand around.

Rory's eyes were downcast, not wanting him to see the hurt that flashed through them as he spoke. "Right." She mumbled.

Tristan sighed, pushing off the railing and standing in front of her. "You want to know the reason why I didn't do anything for you on Valentine's Day?" he asked her softly. Not waiting for an answer, he carried on. "I think it's stupid to have a holiday to tell your special someone how much you love them and appreciate that they're in your life." He paused, letting her take in his views.

"Besides," he continued, "what's so special about doing it on a day when millions of other couples are doing the exact same thing around the world? Wouldn't it mean more if I had taken a day that meant nothing and made it into something special?" He asked, lifting her chin up so she would look at him.

Rory looked into his eyes. The look she saw caused her stomach to tighten just as it did the first time he looked at her that way. His eyes were dark and swirling with an emotion so deep it had scared her back then. Rory stole a glance at his lips, unconsciously wetting her own. She faintly heard Tristan growl, a sound she had become accustomed to. She felt a tugging on the back of her hair and realized that Tristan had snaked his arm up and wrapped his fingers around her chocolate locks.

She pushed herself against him, not caring that they were on her mother's back porch.

She raised her lips to his, needing to feel them on her own. As Tristan shoved her backwards against the porch, she recognized the feel of her back on the rotting wood. Never once letting her lips leave his, she groaned into their kiss as he kneaded the exposed skin where her shirt had ridden up, moaning as he nipped at her lips before soothing them with his tongue.

Her head was swimming. Part of her wanted to push him away, knowing that right here, right now was not the time. Unfortunately, she was slowly losing her mind as he pushed himself up against her, feeling the heat radiating from his body.

Rory kept one arm around his neck as the other snaked around his waist. She pulled both arms tighter, drawing him in as close to her as possible, making their breathing much more erratic.

Reason began to fight its way through the haze. Her arms made their way to his shoulders and she grasped at them desperately, knowing there was nothing either one of them could do about the growing heat from their current situation. She flexed her fingers, ready to push him back when his tongue suddenly left her mouth.

To say she was confused was an understatement – he was never the first to pull away from a kiss. She opened her mouth to say something but the next words spoken were not from her.

"Marry me." She looked at him dazed, the words processing in her mind.

Marry.

He wanted to marry her.

Marriage.

A wedding.

Her wedding.

Their wedding.

He proposed to her after they pawed at each other on her mother's back porch, with a party going on inside.

Her tongue suddenly felt heavy, her jaw frozen in mid-motion. She searched his eyes for some type of joke and came up empty. He was serious. Her throat felt dry, as if the lubrication flew up to her eyes as they began filling with tears. She closed her gaping jaw, blinking away the tears that burned her at eyes.

"Yes." she whispered.

She saw the relief flood through him, washing away the fear instilled there by her long pause, fear that she was going to reject him. The lust in his eyes tamed slightly as happiness flooded his person, flashing her a huge, goofy smile. His large hands cupped both her cheeks, bringing her lips to meet his once again.

Rory sighed contently. Her life couldn't get any better then this.

She controlled the urge to giggle as his five o'clock shadow brushed her chin, his tongue prying her lips apart. She ran her hands through his soft locks.

Nope, nothing could get better.

- - -

"Are you two done being schmoopy?" Lorelai asked as Rory and Tristan walked in, their arms still wrapped around each other.

Rory laughed. "Mom, are you drunk?"

"No." Lorelai said sternly before giggling. "Okay, maybe just a little." She said as she held her thumb and forefinger a whiskers breadth apart. "So, what's with you two? You're both smiling ear-to-ear. You like blinding people with your pearly whites?"

Rory laughed at her mother. "Duh, we're all ears!"

Lorelai gave her daughter a mock glare. "Cute. But seriously, what's up?"

Rory swiftly stuck out her left hand, letting her mother spot the engagement ring Tristan had slipped on her finger when they finally decided to give their bruised lips a rest.

Lorelai squealed as she launched from her chair, letting it clank to the ground, forgotten, as she inspected the white gold band. The oval diamond sparkled in the light of the room, with five small stones encrusted on either side. Simple but elegant. He did well.

"Congratulations!" Lorelai yelled over the noise, giving Rory a bear hug before turning to Tristan. "It took you long enough," she said, jabbing a finger at his broad chest.

"You knew?!" Rory said in disbelief, looking from her fiancé to her mother.

Lorelai gave Tristan an apologetic look before facing her daughter. "Well, yeah. He came down to ask permission from both me and Luke."

Rory had no idea what to say. He had asked her mother and the man she looked up to as a father for permission to marry her. If she had any doubts about him before this, they evaporated in an instant. "You did, huh?" she teased as she turned to face Tristan.

He actually looked like he was blushing. Tristan DuGrey was blushing! "Yeah, I wanted to make sure if I asked you that they wouldn't hate me." He shrugged, struggling to keep the red out of his cheeks.

Rory gave him a smile. "Don't be embarrassed. I don't know how many guys would have done that for me," she said before giving him a peck on the lips.

Lorelai grasped Rory's arm, tugging her down into a chair. "Give me the details. How did he say it? Where were you standing? Did he just blurt it out?"

Rory laughed, cutting her mother off in her rant. "You just couldn't wait, could you?"

"Well, I have to get the details from you, since the plan your boy over here had didn't go as planned."

Rory looked at Lorelai as if she had grown two extra heads. "What do you mean..." she asked slowly.

Tristan cleared his throat. "I was going to ask you in front of everyone."

"You two had it planned?" Rory asked, amazed her mother had not spilled the beans about it.

"Yes, but it was really, really hard. I had to stop myself from telling you so many times." Lorelai huffed.

Rory laughed. "You're crazy."

"Duh! We already knew that. Old news. Now, if he had proposed as planned, you would have seen Kirk walking around with a sock stuck to his shirt. It was hilarious, it was on his side and his arm kept brushing against it, and he didn't even know. But sadly," Lorelai sighed dejectedly, "Gypsy said something to him about it. Anyway, tell me about the proposal." She exclaimed excitedly.

"Damn, I was hoping the Kirk story would distract you. You aren't letting this go are you?" Rory asked, feigning disappointment.

"The Irish ignore anything they can't drink or punch." Lorelai rambled.

Rory laughed. "We're not Irish, are we?"

Lorelai shrugged. "I dunno, but who cares. It's fun to celebrate Saint Patty's Day. So...information woman! You're killing me here." Lorelai deadpanned.

Tristan laughed as he watched the mother and daughter interact before going off and finding something to drink.

- - -

"That's it?" Lorelai Skyler DuGrey asked as she looked at her parents.

"I'm afraid so, honey," Rory said as she tucked her daughter into her bed.

"Can you tell me about the wedding?" Skyler asked sleepily.

"We can tomorrow night, sweetheart." Tristan answered as he looked down at the ash-blond, blue-eyed girl.

"Daddy, how come you don't do anything for Mommy on Valentine's Day?" she asked, fighting to keep her lids from drooping.

"Because I don't need a day to tell Mommy how much I love her," he replied, looking at his wife before glancing down at the five-year-old.

"How come?" she asked.

He briefly wondered if she heard what he was saying. "Because if you love someone the way I do your mother, you don't need a holiday to tell them. You should let them know every chance you get." he explained.

"Why do you call Nah-nah 'mommy'?" she asked, still fighting to keep her eyes open.

Tristan smiled. "Because I lost my mom when I was sixteen and I think of your Grandma as a mother to me."

"Oh. Okay." And, with that, she was asleep. Tristan and Rory both kissed her cheek before exiting her room, making sure her night light was on.

As Rory pulled the door closed, making sure to leave just a crack open, she felt Tristan wrap his arms around her.

"So, how do you think she's going to take it when we tell her she's going to be a big sister?" he whispered while nuzzling her neck

Rory smiled, turning around in his arms. "Hopefully, she'll be all ears," she whispered before kissing him fully on the lips as they made their way blindly down the hall towards their bedroom.

**-- End --**


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